MYSTERIOUSLY YOURS, MAGGIE MARMELSTEIN

Maggie Marmelstein's third appearance pits her once more against phony classmate Tamara, who has designs on Maggie's friend and neighbor Thad. But Maggie's chief interest here is her own importance, after school-paper editor Noah selects her to write the anonymous ""mystery person"" column. In the school lunch room, always a center of kidding-around action in the Maggie stories, Maggie and Noah scheme to swap lunches so that Maggie can slip Noah her column unnoticed. Amusing complications ensue when other kids bid on Maggie's lunch--and later when they become suspicious of Noah's enthusiasm for such Marmelstein-made fare as liver crackers. Tamara schemes to replace a Maggie column with one of her own making; Thad and his friend Henry track down the ""mystery person"" from the clue of Maggie's ""nervous w's""; and Maggie herself, temporarily drunk with power, finally recognizes that her personal columns about classmates in need of help can actually cause them more embarrassment than good. Whatever readers think of Maggie's columns, they'll find the snooping, conniving, and light 6th-grade banter amusingly on target as always.